Friday, September 30, 2005

Packaging Students Win Honors in Packaging Competition

Students from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) earned top honors in the Paperboard Packaging Alliance's (PPA) first annual Student Design Challenge competition. The competition challenged students to create a promotional piece showcasing the functionality of paperboard packaging.

The winning entry, titled "Build Innovation", was designed by Jennifer Farrin (senior), David Lickstein (senior), and Robin Matusik (senior).

The structure was constructed with a push-out tray and windowed sleeve that features the "Build Innovation" message when closed, and reveals the PPA website address as the tray is pushed out of the sleeve. The tray top opens to reveal 10 slotted "building" cards that describe paperboard attributes such as "renewable", "promote", "protect", "versatile", and "recycle."

“Paperboard is versatile material coming from renewable and recycled resources and serving markets from pharmaceuticals/healthcare to software, candy to cosmetics, and beverages to food,” said Deanna Jacobs, RIT professor of packaging science. “Creative uses of material will ultimately save resources and energy and continue to meet the demands of the supply chain.”

The RIT team was mentored by Bill Wynkoop ’87 (packaging science) of Lazer Inc. and Lesley Bates ’89 (packaging science) of Diamond Packaging. Both are adjunct professors in packaging science.

For more information, visit the Paperboard Packaging Alliance website.

Dennis Bacchetta